The brewer of Belgian-style ales needed more production and retail space than its tight location could provide. But the owners didn’t bet on being priced out of the hot neighborhood until the brewery’s landlord sold the property to — what else? — an apartment developer.

So River North set off for Adams County, building out a warehouse space a few miles north at 6021 Washington St. It’s still holding out hope for a future small taproom back in the neighborhood.

At nearly 9,000 square feet — double the size of the old space — the new facility in Adams County has a brewhouse with a four-vessel, 15-barrel system. It’s opening with a fermentation capacity of 4,000 to 5,000 barrels a year (triple its previous production) but could grow to 10,000 barrels.

Also growing is the taproom, which has more seating and eventually will have 16 draft lines.

Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyons released its malt whisky two years after their town of Lyons flooded in September 2013. They had six oak barrels filled with whisky when the flood hit. (Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post )

UPDATED: Upslope Brewing will tap a Scottish-style ale this week with a backstory like no other craft beer.

The tale starts in August 2013 when Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyons borrowed Upslope Brewing’s Lee Hill facility to make five batches of wash or their whisky, trucking it back to Lyons for fermenting, distilling and aging in 53-gallon oak barrels.

A month later, the epic floods hit the distillery with a vengeance. More than a foot of water and mud everywhere. At least one barrel was ruined, but others survived to become “flood proof” whisky.

Two years after it went into the barrel, Spirit Hound sold its first bottles in August. But the barrels kept giving. Spirit Hound distiller Craig Englehorn — himself a former Oskar Blues brewer — collaborated with Upslope brewer Charlie Condon to make a special beer to match the barrels.

A bit of Fort Collins will come to Denver early next year with New Belgium’s 10-barrel brewery in RiNo, so it seems only fair that Denver returns the favor.

Prost Brewing Co., known for its German-style beers, plans to open a tasting room by late-March or early April at 321 Old Firehouse Alley in Fort Collins. Taking the back of Illegal Pete’s building, Prost will build out a tasting room and beer garden with a dozen beers on tap, said Troy Johnson, a Prost co-owner.

Prost Brewing

Fort Collins was a logical locale for Prost’s expansion, Johnston said, noting that two of the brewery’s partners live there, three went to college there and all continue to have strong ties to the community.

“We just wanted to be involved with the community,” Johnston said. “The location is great. It’s a work in progress.” Read more…

A day three years in the making came Friday as Crazy Mountain Brewing, the Vail Valley-based brewer that has won fans beyond Colorado’s borders, opened the doors of its tap room in Denver.

Breckenridge Brewery gave Crazy Mountain first dibs on its 50-barrel brewhouse space at 471 N. Kalamath St. as it prepared to move to a new farm-style brewery complex in Littleton. Crazy Mountain started brewing last year in the space, which has a much larger capacity and already has become its main production facility for bottles. Crazy Mountain’s Edwards brewery and tap room still are open, but owners Kevin and Marisa Selvy have said they may shift to a more specialized focus there.

On Friday, after two nights of soft openings, the tap room and Texas-style barbecue restaurant opened its doors to the public.

Crazy Mountain Tap Room + BBQ is operated by Beaver Creek-based Group970 Restaurants, while Crazy Mountain will operate the brewing space and a “speakeasy” between the offices and the restaurant.

Lauren Salazar of New Belgium Brewing is the high priestess of sour beer. (Courtesy of New Belgium Brewing).

New Belgium Brewing Company’s high priestess of sour beer Lauren Salazar often says she has a dream that one day the brewery’s delicious La Folie would become the nation’s go-to sour in the same way Fat Tire is to amber ale.

It is a wish that could some day come true.

As more breweries produce sour beers, the American palette is growing more sophisticated and sours are becoming more accepted. In due time people surely will begin to expect to see more sour beer tap handles, and La Folie from the nation’s third-largest craft brewer would be a good choice.

“I am still hopeful that we can produce enough that people say, ‘This is the sour that I can actually get,'” she said. “It will become their Friday five o’clock beer of choice. Before that beer was probably an IPA or an amber, but maybe now it will be a sour.”

On Saturday, New Belgium Brewing will introduce its 2016 batch of sour beauts — La Folie and Transatlantic Kriek — at 35 Lost in the Woods events throughout the country, including in Denver and at the flagship brewery in Fort Collins.

The distribution arm of the Denver craft brewery recently brought much-coveted Hill Farmstead beers to the state and this week delivers kegs of Melvin Brewing’s 2×4 Double IPA.

The Wyoming-based Melvin’s long-anticipated arrival in Colorado will take place Thursday for the national 2×4 Day (2/4 on the calendar). The brewery won best small brewpub of the year at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival and just completed a massive expansion.

The Colorado locations getting kegs of 2×4 IPA are Falling Rock and Hops and Pie in Denver; the Boulder and Nederland locations of Backcountry Pizza and Tap House; and Tap and Handle in Fort Collins.

White Labs, which is one of the world’s largest makers of yeast, is opening a tasting room in Boulder.

White Labs plans to open its beer tasting room Friday in Boulder, a new must-visit experience for homebrewers and craft beer fans alike.

The Boulder location — above Upslope Brewing — is open Fridays from 2 to 8 p.m. to start. White Labs is planning a grand opening party March 4.

The San Diego-based company produces the yeasts that make many Colorado professional and homebrewed beers — meaning it’s well-known inside the community. But Kat Small, the company’s special projects manager, said the tasting room hopes to educate even the casual craft beer fan.

“A lot of people know even know that yeast is a strong component in beer,” she said.

East side of the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria Campus November 07, 2014. The Tivoli Brewery and Tap Room will return to the building in April 2015 complete with a brewery, restaurant and beer garden. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

The Tivoli Brewing Company is now serving beer brewed at the historic building on the Auraria Campus and soon will serve its drinks outside at a new beer garden scheduled to open later this year.

The brewing company resurrected the Tivoli brand when it opened a brew pub in August, renovating an old restaurant in the Tivoli building that serves as the student union for the three schools that share the campus.

Tivoli beer has been brewed off site at Prost Brewing Company until the facility was ready. The first beer brewed on campus was poured Tuesday. Read the full story here.

Comments Off on Beer here! Tivoli Brewing opens on college campus in Denver

The multinational brewer has been aggressively increasing its craft beer portfolio. Craft beer sales have doubled over the past five years while sales for major labels like Coors and Budweiser have flattened or declined.

With 10 Barrel, AB InBev sunk $10 million into the brewery, which added six new 400-barrel tanks and hired more employees. Its owners say their corporate overlords will not tinker with the quality or creativity of the beer.Read more…

Crooked Stave focuses on sour and barrel aged beers. It celebrates five years in January.

To celebrate it’s 5-year anniversary, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project is throwing a five-day party that goes back to its origins.

The festivities start Wednesday and culminate Sunday with the tapping of Crooked Stave’s Batch #1 for the final time. “We are very excited to go back and re-visit some beers we haven’t tasted in a few years, as well as getting the entire Crooked Stave family out to the taproom to mingle and celebrate what has been a roller coaster ride over the past 5 years,” said owner Chad Yakobson in the announcement.

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!